Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [115]
“Because she’s the one who hired Canter in the first place without askin’ me. What was I supposed to do? Look like an idiot in front of everyone? A man who can’t control his own ranch or his own wife? I had to act like it was a joint decision even when she made the stupid mistake all on her own.”
“So you punished her by not letting her know Canter was a sexual predator?”
“No, I handled it and kept her out of it. Which is what she should’ve done—stayed outta my business.”
“Why did you and Canter have a fistfight at
Chaska’s Feed Store?”
“Because he was a filthy liar spewin’ filthy lies.”
I kept pushing. “Is that why Trish had no clue you’d fired Melvin Canter?”
“That’s where you’re wrong and she’s lyin’. I told 410
her he wadn’t workin’ here no more two days before she and the kids left for Denver.”
So Trish had lied to me to get me to come out here in the middle of a goddamn blizzard, and continued to lie so I’d help her. What else had she lied about?
“For the past four years you’ve made it plain you don’t want nuthin’ to do with me. I won’t stand for you comin’ in here like a vulture and pickin’ at things that’re better left alone, things that ain’t your concern. Family things that we’ll take care of.”
Instead of being cowed, I stung back. “Family things? You mean brushing your Indian son under the rug? Like you beating me? Those kind of embarrassing family secrets?”
“You don’t know nuthin’.”
“Try this secret on for size: yesterday I discovered Beth McClanahan, the secretary you fired from Sacred Souls, used to live here. She knows firsthand what kind of man Canter was because he raped her when she was eleven years old.
“Her father was the preacher and thought he’d do the Christian thing by leaving the ‘judgment’ to God. So rather than putting him in jail, her family dealt with the thing by ignoring it. By lying about it. By brushing it under the rug and ultimately by running away.”
“Sounds to me like that gal had a good reason to want the man dead. Maybe your good buddy the sheriff oughta be lookin’ into her motives instead of mine.”
411
“Oh, I’m sure he will. Just like I’m sure now he’ll have a bigger reason to bring all members of the Collins family into the sheriff ’s office and grill them about what your hired man did when he was alone with your kids.”
Scritch scratch of the rag as he worked the saddle. Ignoring me wouldn’t make me go away. “Trish can’t stay in the room with Brittney when the sheriff talks to her. You can’t either. What about DJ? Maybe he’ll shed light on this situation since he spent as much time with Canter as Brittney did. Maybe DJ saw something or knows something he’s too afraid to talk about when you or Trish are around.”
Dad leapt up so fast the bucket crashed to the ground. “You stay the hell away from my son. He’s not talkin’ to nobody about nuthin’. Ever. I’ll never let you nor the law anywhere near him. You understand?”
Right then all of Doug Collins’s motives became apparent. By keeping his mouth shut he hadn’t been protecting himself. Or his daughter.
“My God. It never was about Brittney. It was about DJ.”
“Shut up.”
“Canter tried something with DJ, didn’t he?”
Dad got right in my face and snarled. “You shut up. Shut your big stupid mouth.”
“No one would—”
“No one will ever know, you hear me? No one. You think I want my only son to hafta grow up listenin’ to the whispers of everyone in the county? Thinkin’ he’s 412
weak? Thinkin’ he liked what that sick man done to him and DJ couldn’t stop it? Thinkin’ he’s some kinda homosexual freak? He ain’t, but that’s what folks will believe.”
“So instead you’re going to allow people to believe Brittney was sexually assaulted? How is that different?
For Christsake, how can you possibly justify that’s somehow better?”
“Because she’s a girl. Because like you said, people will know Canter done it before with other little girls. She’ll get sympathy. DJ wouldn’t. That boy’d never be able to hold his head up in this county again, and I ain’t gonna allow